Chapter Twenty Six #2
“His love language is gifting,” Karim stage whispered, “So you might want to get used to it.”
That got a laugh out of Luis. He swiped at his eyes again, trying to catch his breath. “I can’t believe you two.”
“We just want to make you happy, sweetheart,” Julien said. A hand touched Luis’s own where it was wrapped around the neck of the guitar. “Would you play something for us?”
Luis’s first instinct was to say no. He’d never played in front of anyone but Cassie, had never trusted anyone but Cassie with this part of him.
But looking between the two of them, he wanted to share. They’d gifted his guitar back to him, like putting some vital piece of himself back in his hands just because they wanted him to have it. They wanted him to be who he was.
It was terrifying, the thought of playing in front of them, but he didn’t want to run from that fear. He’d spent so, so long having to hide himself away. So long shrinking himself down so try and fit in the boxes his mother wanted him in.
But if that part of his life was over now, he should lean in to new experiences, new ways of operating.
He could try something scary, couldn’t he? For them.
“O-okay,” Luis said. His heart was thundering now. He rubbed the faded calluses on his fingers. It had been a while, but he knew how to play. Guitar strings were as familiar to him as his own hands. “Um, requests?”
“Anything at all,” Julien said encouragingly.
Luis nodded and went through tuning the strings.
“Okay,” he said when it was ready. “Okay.”
He could do this. He wanted to do this. If his life was going to be different now, he got to shape what that looked like.
And he didn’t want to be a coward anymore, didn’t want to hide from things that scared him. Lately, every time he’d taken a risk, he’d only ended up better than before. He never would have ended up here, on a couch between two vampires that he lo–cared for, if he hadn’t taken a risk.
He took a steadying breath and moved his hands to position.
What came to him first was the practice song. It was something he’d made up himself, years and years ago when he was just messing around. It was a song he went back to time and time again, playing it to warm up or when he didn’t know what else to do, but wanted to feel his fingers on the strings.
Luis knew it like the back of his hand, which helped his nerves.
He started to play.
It started slow, almost melancholy, but grew into something lively. The sound wound up, getting faster, a good workout for his out of practice hands.
As the song went on, Luis sank into it, the worry about them listening falling away. By the time he made it to the end, he almost didn’t want to stop. He played the last few notes and let them fade out.
“That was beautiful,” Julien said with awe. “I’m not familiar with the song though.”
Luis blinked, coming back to himself. His cheeks flushed. “Oh, it’s not really a song. It’s just something I made up to practice with. That’s why it gets more difficult as it goes on. It’s just what I thought of first.”
“You wrote that?” Karim asked.
Luis shrugged. “Not really, it’s just a practice tool, I’ve never written it down.”
He could feel Karim’s eyes on him. “But you composed it…” he said slowly with meaning. “I didn’t know you’re also a songwriter.”
Luis wanted to squirm. “I just mess around. It’s not–it’s not like that.”
On his other side Julien hummed knowingly. “Either way, that was very beautiful. You have a lot of skill.”
His stomach fluttered. “It helps to have a good instrument,” Luis said.
“I’ve seen plenty of good instruments in the hands of people who couldn’t play for shit,” Karim said. “It’s you who’s good.”
Luis looked down at the guitar because he couldn’t look at either of them.
His heart was still pounding, adrenaline flooding his veins.
He knew he should tell them that this gift was too much and they should return it, but the words stuck in his throat.
Now that it was in his arms, now that he’d played it, he didn’t want to give the guitar back.
With a few weeks of paychecks Luis could have bought another one for himself, but he… he liked that this one was a gift from them. Liked that they’d thought of him, that they’d understood what it meant to him.
So instead, he lifted his gaze, looking from Karim to Julien, “Thank you,” he said, “for this. For–for everything, really.”
Julien’s smile was soft when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Luis’s cheek. He felt Karim take his hand, slotting their fingers together.
“You are very welcome, darling.”
##
Later, Luis was brushing his teeth when Karim knocked on the doorframe. Luis stepped out of the bathroom, toothbrush in mouth.
“Hey,” Karim said with a grin as he leaned against the doorframe looking tall, dark, and dressed down for bed. His hair was slicked back from a recent shower. “Want to undermine Julien’s authority with me?”
Luis gave that a curious head tilt, and held up one finger as he stepped back into the bathroom to finish brushing his teeth.
“What do you mean?” Luis asked as he was putting his toothbrush away.
Karim sauntered into the bathroom, coming up behind him and curling his arms around Luis. He dropped his chin to Luis’s shoulder.
In the mirror Karim met his eyes with a smile. Luis relaxed back into him.
A hand wandered down to the waistband of Luis’s sleep shorts. It plucked at the elastic there inquiringly. Luis’s cock took interest immediately.
“I was thinking that we ditch these tonight,” Karim said.
“We–ah.”
Karim hummed, and he pressed a kiss to Luis’s shoulder. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
He pressed further against Luis, and now Luis could feel his hardness, the stiff shape pressed against his ass. “Fuck,” he hissed.
“I think between the two of us, we could break Julien’s willpower,” Karim whispered conspiratorially. “What do you think? I’ve never had a partner in crime before.”
Blood was rushing southward, and it was hard to think. “A-ah, um, yeah? Okay, we could…”
Karim pulled away, snatching up Luis’s hand and tugging him out of the bathroom.
“Great, let’s go,” he said.
They made it as far as the hallway before Karim turned mid-stride and kissed him, rough and messy. Luis opened in surprise, and then moaned when Karim immediately took advantage.
Hands slid down over the fabric of Luis’s pajamas, groping just enough to be a tease, to send the blood rushing through his body. Luis fisted his own hand in Karim’s shirt, keeping him close.
The kisses were searing, and then Karim was tugging at the fabric, pushing it down. Luis stepped out of them haphazardly, blindly, trying not to break the kiss as they tumbled further down the hallway.
“Mm—a sec,” Karim said against his lips. He pulled back just enough to get his own shirt up and off.
Luis was reminded all over again how good he looked. Big and broad with a trail of dark hair on his dark skin that led down, down, down.
Karim smiled with fangs, noticing Luis’s wandering eyes.
They made it another step down the hallway before Karim shoved Luis up against the wall and kissed him again. His hands roamed up and down Luis’s sides, teasing and stoking his arousal. Luis was just in his underwear now, and Karim took the opportunity to grab at Luis’s ass with possessive hands.
Luis’s own hands found his waist and pulled him in closer. Their bodies came together as Karim ground him against the wall. Luis gasped, groaning into the man’s mouth.
When they pulled apart again, both of them were panting.
“Julien,” Luis whispered, to remind them both. Because there’d been a plan… right?
“Right,” Karim said, but he didn’t look clear on it either.
They made it another few steps before crashing together again. Karim was magnetic, and Luis couldn’t stop touching him. Shirtless, there was so much skin, so many places to drop sucking kisses.
It was a messy stumble into the bedroom and then the bed. They crashed down onto it, Luis taking a knee knocking against his as they fell. Karim held some of his weight up to not crush him.
“Oh, and what do you think you two are doing?” Julien asked from the bathroom. He had a sharp and amused tone.
Luis couldn’t look. Karim’s hand was encircling his wrist, pinning it down, and sparks shot through him. His legs parted automatically for Karim to have space there. He was hot, burning. He wanted this, needed it. Karim ground into him again and Luis moaned, too loud.
The hand pinning him let go to grab his ass again and forcefully grind them tighter together. His underwear was quickly getting wet, his cock pushing against the fabric. Karim was hard against him, but still wearing his damned pajama pants.
“Fuck, the way you sound,” Karim growled.
Teeth skirted Luis’s throat, and his heart thumped hard against his ribcage. He’d never been bitten outside of it being for his treatment, but–
“I want it,” Luis said through a gasp. A hand found the tie on Karim’s pants, and he tugged the knot loose.
“Yeah?” Karim was buried against his throat, mouthing there. Their hips rutted against each other, the pleasure climbing. “What do you want, baby?”
Karim pushed against him again, and Luis cursed. He was melting, so needy for more, more, more.
“I said, what do you think you two are doing?”
Julien’s voice this time cut through like a knife. One second Karim was pressed against him, and the next Julien had Karim’s hair in a vice grip. He used it to haul him up and onto his knees.
There was a disproving, dark look on Julien’s face. It didn’t look like the one he’d had outside the bar when Karim had bitten Luis the first time, when they’d actually made him angry. This one had an excited gleam to it, like Julien was partially pleased to be disapproving.
It made Luis’s cock throb for reasons he couldn’t explain.